


Basic Survival Skills

by kitlee625



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen, Philinda Week, Pre-Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 05:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2953271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitlee625/pseuds/kitlee625
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>May and Coulson face hypothermia, self-doubt, and injuries on their S.H.I.E.L.D. academy survival test.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Basic Survival Skills

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Philinda Week.

“We’re screwed,” Coulson announces.

May shakes her head. “Don’t say that. We only have to survive long enough to get to the safe house.”

He points at the top of the mountain far in the distance. “It’s going to take days to get there. And we barely have any food or water --”

“We have basic supplies and our training.” She grabs her backpack. “We need to get going before we lose more daylight.”

He stares up at the sky. “How can it be so cold when the sun is shining?”

May rolls her eyes and starts marching away from him without another word.

*****

“This is the worst survival test ever,” Coulson complains as they hike up the mountain. There is no trail to speak of, and it is slow going as they try to pick their way through the rocky soil.

“At least we’re not in the desert like Blake and Garrett,” May says. She remembers how sunburnt and angry they had been a few weeks ago. By the end of their three day survival test, they had been sunburnt and dizzy from dehydration. 

Coulson shudders. “I hate this.”

“Stop complaining. I thought you were a boy scout.”

“I was, but I grew up in a city. I only went on a few campouts, and I wasn’t very good at that stuff.” He looks embarrassed. “That’s why I didn’t make Eagle Scout.”

“Ahh.”

“What about you? Did you go camping before the academy?”

“Some. I was a girl scout for a few years, but I got tired of selling cookies.”

He smiles thinking of a young Melinda May going door to door, asking strangers to buy cookies. “I can’t imagine you selling girl scout cookies.”

“I was very good.”

“Really?”

“I broke all the troop records.”

“What was your secret?”

She shrugs. “I was persistent.”

*****

It is nearly dark by the time they find an overhang to camp under. As part of the test, they are forbidden from doing anything that might draw attention to themselves, which means no tent and no fire. All they have to protect themselves from the cold are two sleeping bags, and they lay them out under the overhang so it provides additional shelter from the wind.

“We should take turns keeping watching,” May says.

“Why? The test is about wilderness survival. There’s not going to be enemies coming after us.”

She sounds nervous. “What about bears? Or other animals?”

“And if you hear a bear in the middle of the night, what are you going to do? Punch it?”

She scowls and wraps herself up in her sleeping bag. “Fine.”

Coulson feels guilty for teasing her. “It’s okay. We can take turns if you want. I’ll take the first shift and wake you up in a few hours.”

*****

No matter how fast they hike, the safe house remains tantalizingly out of reach. By the end of the second day, it appears only barely closer than when they started.

“What if we don’t make it to the safe house by the third day?” Coulson asks as they lie in their sleeping bags in the dark.

“The test only lasts three days.”

“But will they come get us, or will it continue on until we reach the safe house?”

“I guess if we don’t make it, then we’ll be dead in this scenario.” 

The reality of what they are training for sinks in, and they both are quiet. Their biggest concern right now may be passing survival class, but soon the stakes will truly be life and death.

May sighs. “I didn’t join S.H.I.E.L.D. to freeze to death on a mountain.”

“Or get eaten by bears.” He can tell that she is scowling at him in the darkness.

“There’s nothing funny about being eaten by bears,” she mutters.

*****

She is almost packed by the time he wakes up. “Hurry up. We need to get moving if we’re going to reach the safe house by sundown.”

He nods and stumbles out of his sleeping bag. It is still cold and dark, with only the hint of dawn peeking out behind the clouds. He takes a minute to drink some water and digs through his bag for his field rations.

“Last package.” He stares at it for a second before eating it. “I guess either way it’s going to be over today.”

“We have to make it. I am not failing the survival test.” 

Operations cadets have been expelled for less. “We’re not going to fail,” he says as much to reassure her as to reassure himself.

*****

It has been weighing on his mind as he follows her vigorous pace up the mountain, and when they stop for water, he asks, “What would you do?”

“What?”

“If we failed. I mean, what would you do if you couldn’t be in S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“I would apply for another agency. Or join the air force.”

“Oh.” It is hard to admit, but he says, “I don’t know what I’d do. I don’t really have any place to go.”

“What were you doing when you were recruited?”

“I was finishing high school and working at a convenience store. But I wasn’t really thinking about the future.”

May looks curious, like she wants to ask how he got into S.H.I.E.L.D. academy in the first place, but she just says, “You’re not going to be expelled. We’re going to make it to the top.”

*****

Coulson is just starting to think that they are going to make it in time when the world drops off in front of him. Or, more accurately, May does. One minute she is a few feet ahead of him, clambering over some rocks, and the next she has disappeared into a giant hole. 

“May! Melinda!” 

He rushes to the edge and peers in. He can just barely see her at the bottom, lying curled up in a ball. For a moment he is afraid that she is dead, but then she groans and sits up.

“I’m hurt, Phil.”

“What’s wrong?”

“My leg.” She tries to put weight on it, but gasps and collapses from pain. “I think it’s broken.”

“Stay there. I’ll think of something.” He digs through his pack, looking for something, anything, that could get her out of the hole.

“No. Go to the safe house. There’ll be agents there.”

He glances up the mountain. It is still going to take several hours before he can make it that far. “I’m not leaving you alone in the bottom of this hole with a broken leg.” He finds some rope and lowers it over the edge. “Hang on, and I’ll pull you up.”

“Phil --”

“Unless you have a spinal injury. Do you have a spine injury? I don’t think I’m supposed to move you in case you severed your spine --”

“My spine is fine.” She crawls over to the rope and grabs onto it. She hauls herself up the rope and out of the hole. When she collapses on the ground, Coulson gets a better look at her leg. Blood is soaking through the pants, and he does not want to think of what her leg looks underneath the fabric. She lies back on the ground, breathing heavily with her eyes closed.

“Are you in pain?”

She gives him a look and sits up. “I’m out of the hole. Now you have to go for help.”

“Not without you.”

“Phil, don’t be an idiot. Just go. If you don’t get there in time, we’ll both fail.”

“I’m not leaving you behind. What would that say about me? That I cared more about passing a test than I did about my teammate when she was hurt?” He squats down beside her and motions for her to climb on his back. “I’ll get us out of here.”

May wraps her arms around his neck and climbs on his back. “You’re crazy, you know that?”

“I do.” He pats her uninjured knee fondly and slowly rises to his feet. 

*****

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent looks shocked when he sees the cadets come trudging up to the safe house just before dusk. Coulson is carrying May piggyback, and she looks pale from pain.

“You barely made it,” he says as he ushers them inside.

Coulson does not even pause to savor their victory. “May’s hurt. She needs medical care.” 

He eases her onto the sofa and lifts her leg onto the coffee table. The bleeding seems to have stopped, but when they cut open the leg of her pants, they find that not only is her bone broken, but one edge of bone is sticking up through the skin. Coulson looks decidedly queasy as the agent radios down for medical assistance.

While they wait for the medical team, the agent looks uncomfortably at May’s stoic face, like he is expecting her to start screaming any second. 

“I’ll see if we have something in the medkit for the pain,” he says.

May nods. After he is gone, she motions for Coulson to come closer.

“Thanks. For everything. I owe you one.”

“Of course. I couldn’t leave you behind.” He squeezes her hand. “You’re going to be okay.”

She gives him a weak smile. “Thanks to you.”

“It was nothing." He cannot admit how scared he had been on the mountain, seeing her hurt and not knowing how to help her. He smiles at her and tries to make a joke. "Besides, I couldn’t let you be eaten by bears.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this while watching the Star Trek DS9 episode "The Ascent" so if the survival test seems similar to what Quark and Odo endured in that episode, that's why.


End file.
